Latch structure



E. D. DALL 2,246,787

LATCH STRUCTURE Filed May 23, 1940 June 24, 1941.

2 Sheets-Sheet l I a; I W.

June24, 1941.

E. D. DALL LATCH STRUCTURE Filed May 23, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IllIllllI mmm LL fowmeo ,0. 041.4.

Lia.

tented June 24,1941

LATCH STRUCTURE Edward D. Dali, Detroit, Mich, assignor to Houdame-Hershey Corporation, Detroit, Mich, a

corporation of Michigan Application-May 2s,194w,serialemanates 6 Claims.

This invention relates to latch structure adapt ed particularly for latching in closed position the covers or hoods of the engine enclosing housin on automotive vehicles such as automobiles.

An important object of the invention is to provide improved structure and arrangement in which a latch lever is mounted on the housing hody in the path of a keeper on the hood or cover with the operation such that when the cover is moved to its closing position the keeper will engage with the latch lever to move itto its -.latching position, together with means operable only from within the vehicle body for effecting unlatching of the latch lever.

A further objectlis to provide cross-center spring means for quickly completing the latching or unlatching movement of the latch lever and with the spring means effective, after unlatching movement of the latching lever, to hold the latching lever against the keeper with the hood or cover open sufliciently for insertion thereunder or the ringers or hand so that the unlatched cover may he readily'swung to its fully opened position.

another important object is to cause the spring means to continue its pressure against the latching lever after latching movement thereol. into engagement with the keeper so as to force the cover against its seat and to take up any slaclr, so that the hood or cover will be securely held closed against rattling.

further object, is ,toprovide detent means for positively. loclring the latching lever against unlatchhrg movement thereof and with the dc tent operable only from inside or" the vehicle for release of the latching lever for movement thereof to tullahihlng position.

.l-mother important object is to provide simpli' lied structure that can he economically rnanue factored and installed and which will operate erhciently at all times.

.f'llhe various features of the invention are incommented in the structure shown on the drawings, in which drawings:

lfiligure l is an inside elevation of the lock structure mounted on the inside of a side wall of the housing, and the keeper on the cover;

Figure 2 is asection on plane II-ll Figure 1; Figure 3 is an inside elevation of the latching structure on the housing showing the -unlatching position; and

' Figure t is an end view. q 1

-"lhe latch structure on the housing wall comprises a supporting base or plate ill having flanges it at its upper edge by which it is secured, as by bolts or rivets I2, to the sill It extending inward I 1y from the side wall It of the housing, the plate 10 being thus suspended from the sill.

The plate H) has the extension ii at its top to which is secured a stud l6 for fulcruming the latching lever ll. The lever has the outer hooked end l8 for latching engagementwith a keeper 19 shown on the drawings as a cylindrical stud or pinextending from a base 20 secured against the top of the seating flange 2! along the lower edge of a hood or cover 22, the seating flange 2i engaging against the sill I3 of the housing wall It when the hood is in closedposition as shownin Figure 1.

Figure 1 shows the hook end of the latching lever in latching position in engagement with the keeper I9 tohold the hood it closed. Opposite the hook 'end ill, the latching lever has the arm 2t presenting the shoulder or edge 2t which,

when the latching lever is moved toward unlatching position, engages the keeper stud it to raise the cover 22 a distance away from the sill it so that the fingers or the hand may be inserted helow the cover for swing thereof to lull open position, as shown on Figures 3 and at its inner end, .the latching lever has the a hole at receiving the head of a pin or stud til whose reduced end ill extends through the slot it the plate it and receives a bushing lit eugaging in the slot, the slot being arcuate with its center at the axis of the fulcrum it. When the latching lever is rotated to its latching or tilllatching position, the bushing it will travel along the slot to limit the swing ofthe latching lever. A. link til extending downwardly loehind the plate ill is journaled at its upper end on the hushing til and is held in place against the hack of the plate litter the hushing flange it, the inner end oi the pin end ill being-riveted over against the bushing. A coiled spring ti is anchored at its inner end to the plate it at the rear side thereof, the outer end oi the spring abutting the lower end of the llnlr tit and at all times exerting upward thrust on the link, the link having a stud til xtending therefrom into the guide slot in the plate llt.

When the latching lever l l is swung to its latching or unlatching position, the bushing it travels through the slot it past the line extending be tween the lever fulcrum it and the spring abutment eird of the link, and as soon as the bushing travels to either side of this line, the thrust of the spring will become efiective to quickly snap the latching lever into its latching position shown on Figure 1, or to its unlatching position shown on Figure 3.

Joumaled at'its upper end on the pin body 26 is a pawl 34 having the corner or tooth 35 at its lower end for engaging with rack teeth 80 on a bar 31 secured to the plate It, the rack teeth being in an arcuate row concentric with the inicrum it of the lever II. The tail end of the lever 81 is deflected to form an abutment l8 tor the wing 39 on the pawl 34. and a hairpin spring 80 anchored on a stud M on the lever l1 engages the pawl and the lever and tends to swing the pawl with its wing 38 against th abutment 38 when the lever is in its unlatching position. The Y pawl is held against the lever by the head 26' of on the hood or the housing sill, the spring pressure against the latching lever will hold the packing compressed so as to form a sealedioint between the hood and housing. It will be noted on Figure 1 that when the latching lever is being forced by the spring thrust to hold the hood securely closed, the lower end 01' the detent pawl 84 may move upwardly a distance from the corresponding rack tooth 36. However, the spring 88 will hold the pawl in position above the tooth 'so that the latching lever cannot be swung to unlatching position until the button $5 is operated iromwithin the automobile body to release the teeth 38. At its lower end,'the pawl has the post id to which is secured the end of a pull member, such as a wire It. In accordance with my invention, this wire extends to a button 45 which may be at the instrument panel 40, with the arrange- -ment such that when the button is pulled out the pawl 94 will be swung for release from the rack teeth 86 and for engagement with the arm 62 of the latching lever for swing of the latching lever to its unlatching position. As soon as the pin 28 passes through the neutral stress line of the spring 88, the latching lever will be quickly snapped to its'unlatching position. As the lever is swung toward its 'unlatching position, the hook 'end it of the lever is withdrawn from the keeper stud it and the lever shoulder 2t engages the stud so that. whenthe latching lever has reached its unlatchingposition, the hood 22 willhave been raised a diste away from the sill 68, as

shown on Fla i, so that the fingers may be inserted below the hood edge for of the hood to its fully opened position.

' When it is desired to close thehood. it is swung down to closed position, the keeper stud is then engaging the shoulder it to awingthe lever toward its latching position, and whim the neutral strem line or the spring Si is p on v the spring pressure against the link 86 will cause the latching lever to be quickly snapped into i latchingposition, as shown on'Figure l.

' movement of the lever to latchingposltion the detent pawl from the rack teeth.

If the spring 8| should become broken, or disconnected ir'om the link 30, the latching bolt can be swung to its unlatching position entirely manually by pull on the button 45, and when the open hood is swung down to closed position, the latching lever will be swung to its latching position and locked in such position by the detent pawl 35. Should the spring to become broken or displaced, the detent pawl will operate by gravity to sheet locking of the latching lever in latching position.

Only one or a number of latches may be pro-' vided at each side of the hood supporting housing, and on each side a separate wire may extend from each detent pawl to the corresponding button or a common wire may be connected with the detent pawls so that the pawls on each side may be simultaneously operated by pull on the button for release of thelatching lever.

I have shown a practical and emcient embodi ment of the features of my invention, but I do not desire to be limited to the exact construction, arrangement and operation shown and described as changes and modifications may be made with out departing Erom the scope of the invention.

ii claim as follows:

' l. hatching structure for a swinging cover of a housing on an automotive vehicle comprising keeper means on the cover, a latching lever on the housing rotatable for latching engagement with the keeper means or for unlatching thereof, a swinging detent pawl depending from said lever, a detent abutment on said lhousing engageable by said detent pawl when said lever is rotated into latching position whereby said lever will be locked against rotation in unlatching direction, an abutment on said lever, and means operable from a point remote from said lever for first effecting release of said detent pawl from said detent abutment and for then engaging said detent pawl with said lever abutment for rotation of said lever to unlatching position, and

0! the bushing 29 with the lower end of the slot 2 28. The upper end 28' of the slot 28 is not enlatching position, nor is the stud 32'on the link 38 in engagement with the upper end oi the 1 guide slot 39 when the latching lever is in its latching position. This clearance in the slots 2B and is provided so that the thrust of the 1 Based by the bushing 29 when the lever is in v means on said latching lever effective during unlatching movement of said lever to engage with said cover to raise it to a partially open position.

2. Latch structure" for latching the cover of a housing on an automobile vehicle, comprisingkeeper means on the cover, a rotatable latching lever iulcrumed on the housing and having a latching end in! latch engagement with said keeper means to hold the cover closed, a shoulder on said lever engageable with said keeper means to raise said cover to partially open position when said lever is rotated to unlatching position and to be engaged bysaid keeper means to rotate said lever into latching engagement when the cover is moved to closed position, a detent pawl mounted on said lever to swing thereon, "an abutment bar, a spring tending to swing said detent pawl into engagement with said abutment bar when said leveris rotated to latching position and to thereby lock said lever against rotation in unlatching direction, an abutment on said lever, and releasing means operable to first swing said detent pawl away from said detent abutment and then against said lever abutment for rotation of said lever to unlatching position.

3. Latch structure for the cover of a housing on an. automotive vehicle comprising keeper means on the cover, a rotatable latching lever iulcrumed on the housing and'having a latching end for engagement with the latching means to latch the cover closed, a shoulder on said lever engageable with said cover to partially open said cover when said lever is rotated to unlatching position and to be engaged by said keeper means to cheat rotation of said levertoward latching position when saidcover is swung to closed position, spring operated means "eifecting the final abutment to unlock the latching lever and then against said lever abutment for rotation of the lever toward unlatching position and for final movement of said lever to unlatching position b said spring operated means.

Latch structure for latching the cover of a housing on an automobile vehicle comprising keeper means on the cover, a supporting base on the housing, a latch lever fulcrumed intermediate its ends on said supporting base, said lever at its V outer end having a latching arm for engagement with the keeper means to hold the cover closed when the latch bolt is moved to its latching position, said latching lever at its outer end having a shoulder engageable with said keeper means for edecting partial opening of the cover when said latching lever is moved to unlatching position, a detent member extendingirom the inner end of said latching lever, a latching abutment onsaid supporting base cooperable with said detent member to lock the latching lever in its latching position, releasing means operable to first swing said detent member away from said detent abut ment to unlock said latching lever and then to engage with said latching lever to eflect'movemerit thereof to unlatching position and the eneasement or said latching lever shoulder with the keeper structure for partial opening or the cover, and crossover spring means applied to the inner position and to exert spring pressure against said latching lever alter latching thereof toholdthe cover closed and against rattling.

5. Latch structure for latching the cover of a housing on an automobile vehicle comprising keeper means on the cover.a supporting base on the housing, a latch lever iulcrumed intermediate its ends on said supporting base, said lever.

at its outer end having a latching arm for tch-v 1118 ensagement with said keeper means'to hold end of said latching lever for effecting quick 3 movement thereor into its latching or unlatching the cover closed and having a shoulder engageable with the keeper means to effect partial opening or the cover when the latching lever is moved to unlatch the cover, a detent member pivoted to and extending from the inner end of said latching lever and a detent abutment on said supporting base cooperable with said detent member to lock the latching lever in its latching position, releasing means operable to first swing said detent member away from said detent member for unlocking of said latching lever and for then engaging with said latching lever to move it toward its unlatching position for unlatching of the cover and partial opening thereof by said shoulder, a link pivoted to and extending from the inner end of said latching lever and at its free end having slidable pivotal connection with said supporting base, and a spring engaging the free end of said link for exerting pressure through said link against the inner end of said latching lever for eflfecting quick movement of said latching lever to its latching or unlatching position after initial movement of said lever to such position.

'6. Latch structure for latching the cover of a housing on an automobile vehicle comprising keeper means on the cover, a supporting base on the housing, a latching lever fulcrumed intermediate its ends on said supporting base and having a latching arm at its outer end for cooperation with the keeper means to hold the cover closed and having a shoulder at its outer end engageable with the keeper means to efiect partial opening of the cover when the latching lever is moved to unlatch the cover, a stud carried'by the inner end of said latching lever and said supporting basehaving an arcuate' slot through which said stud extends and for limiting the movement of said lever in latching or unlatching dir ction,

tending between said lever fulcrum and said linkpivot' connection with said supporting base, a spring exerting pressure through said link against said stud whereby after passage of said stud past said line said latching lever will be quickly moved into its latching or unlatching position, releasing means operable from a point remote from said latch structure for moving said latching lever for movement of said stud past said line whereby the spring pressure will then quickly move said latching lever to its unlatching position Ior function-@ ing of said shoulder 'for partial opening oi said cover, said shoulder upon closure movement of said cover being engaged by the keeper means i to cause movement of said latching lever towarda latching position and for final movement of the sition against rattling.'

lever to latching position by said spring pressure, saidstud after relatching or the cover being short of the corresponding end of the slot whereby said spring pressure will continue so as to cause said latching lever to take up any loose motion of the cover and hold it securely latched in closed po EDWARD 1). pain 

